Getting even
by si-star-x
Summary: Boar VS Sawyer. Guess who wins? [Skate]
1. Onesided battle

The book was actually very good; no wonder Sawyer had been so engrossed in it. Granted, the thing had ruined his eyesight but surely it wasn't the books fault. As Kate turned a page, she heard him yell from somewhere inside the jungle - he was obviously close, she wouldn't have heard it otherwise.

Nobody else seemed to be rushing to his rescue, so she guessed it was her cue. "Mmm" she groaned, stretching her back as she stood up from the place on Sawyer's bed.

She pushed aside a few branches and there he was, lying in a puddle of wet mud. He noticed her presence straight away.

"Go ahead and take your own damn sweet time, freckles" he called, not even bothering to look at her.

"Sawyer?" Kate said, an amused smile evident in her voice "What are you doing?"

"Taking a mud bath" he said sarcastically "What the hell do you think? That thing attacked me. Again, might I add"

Kate smirked "The boar? Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious. I think it broke my damn foot" he tried to shift his leg and gasped in pain "Son of a bitch!"

The thought of having to stand in the mud to help him up wasn't something Kate really wanted to do, but she couldn't leave him there for much longer. It was hard to stifle back the waves of laughter. She didn't feel much sympathy for him.

"Can you get up?" she asked, hoping that he would say "yes".

No such luck.

"Of course, sweetheart. I'm just lying here 'cause it's comfortable." Sarcasm; just what he does best.

"Really?" she tested, knowing the answer.

Sawyer rolled his eyes and then allowed them to meet hers "No, Freckles. I can't get up. Fancy giving me a hand?"

-

"Ow!" 

Kate managed to knock agaisnt his injured leg as she helped him to his feet. He fell to the ground again, luckily just short of the mud.

"I'm sorry" she said, biting her lip "Do you want me to have a look at your foot?"

"Been learning a few tricks from the Doc?" Sawyer questioned, bracing his arms behind his head "You'll be fully qualified in no time"

"You're an asshole, Sawyer" Kate sighed, her hands going towards the boot on his right leg.

He flinced and drew the limb back, a hiss of pain escaping his lips "Just leave it"

"Sure, I'll just leave you too - shall I?"

"Go ahead" he said with a slight smile.

Kate stood up and waved "See you later then"

-----

She had left him about 20 minutes ago and he hadn't made a sound or an appearance since. She was determined not to feel guilty.

-----

He didn't think Kate had been serious about leaving him. His leg was throbbing intensely and he couldn't remain upright for longer than a minute at one time. He had managed to hop/stagger about 10 metres, but he really needed some help. With an exasperated sigh, he opened his lungs and yelled "KATE!"

She appeared moments later. Without saying anything, she wrapped an arm around his waist and allowed him to lean on her.

"How are you feeling?" She asked after they started moving.  
"I need to lie down" Sawyer admitted, wincing as he jarred his foot "Damn it, that boar is so disrespectful"

Kate laughed.

"No, I'm serious! I spared his life yesterday and this is how the thing repays me. Next time I see it - it's going down" His voice had an edge of determination.

-----

"I'll go get Jack..." Kate suggested as she helped Sawyer to lie down and pull his injured foot up.

He nodded "That's probably a good idea" A smile spread across his face as she leant down and gently planted a kiss on his forehead. 

"Don't go anywhere, Cowboy"

-----

Kate ran to the caves, narrowly avoiding falling over. When she reached them, she immediately saw Jack.

"Jack!" she yelled "Sawyer's hurt"

He looked up "What?"

"Yeah, he was attacked"

"Attacked? By who?"

Kate smiled "I think you mean _what. _Do you remember that boar?"

----

I wrote this a while back, just something to occupy my time - though it only took about five minutes. It's the result of my twisted mind.


	2. Shaping the future

Sawyer looked at Jack in disbelief. "It's not broken?" He sounded somewhat suprised. "How can it be swollen up like a goddamn balloon and feeling like it's about to drop off and not be broken?"

The doctor shrugged his shoulders and smiled slightly, "You've never sprained anything before, have you?"

"How'd ya guess?"

Kate watched on in amusement. No doubt she was going to be playing nursemaid for a while.

He didn't answer the question. "It's going to hurt like hell for a few weeks. You'll have to keep it elevated. Ice would also be recommended, but..." Jack glanced around, "As you can see, we have none."

The southerner flicked his hair back before raising his line of vision to meet the other guy's. "You gonna fix me up with something for the pain?"

"No can do," Jack managed to sound almost as though he genuinely felt sorry for him. "We're low on supplies as it is, better save it incase of a real emergency."

"Y'trying to say I'm not an emergency, Chico?" If Sawyer would have been standing, Kate was sure he would have had a punch landed by now.

She laughed slightly before starting to talk. "Sawyer, you've sprained your foot. I'd hardly call it an emergency. I think -"

He cut her off. "Look, Freckles, I'm not good with pain."

Jack cleared his throat - obviously not comfortable with being present as they bickered. "I have things to do. Don't go wandering off anywhere," he said firmly.

Sawyer raised his hand in a quick wave, "I'm sure we'll find something to do. Won't we, freckles?"

She nodded and smiled, though it had an edge of force to it. "I'm sure we will."


	3. Help

Kate had to take the scenic route back to the beach - straight through the jungle. It was deadly silent aside from the occasional snap of branches and rustle of leaves as she stepped. Three water bottles were carried in her arms, her first 'bright idea' as nursemaid. Of course, Sawyer had insisted that he was fine. His actual words were:

"Don't bother getting water; unless you're planning on giving me a sponge bath, that is."

It would take a damn lot more than a minor injury like this before she was getting anywhere near him with a sponge. It wasn't that Kate didn't _want _to be rubbing him down with water, she just didn't want it to seem as though he was being taken advantage of. With a shake of the head, her pace was quickened and all concentration went on making it back.

----

"Damn it," Sawyer muttered as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position.

She had been gone for only twenty minutes but it seemed like much longer. There was a proposal he needed to run by her. Revenge. That boar just wasn't learning it's lesson. Having a gun to his head sure would have made Sawyer step down, but no. Not the boar. It had to be all high and mighty, look at me, I own the jungle.

"I'll own you when your head's on my plate!" he exclaimed outloud without realising.

Kate raised her eyebrows as she approached him. "Are you OK?" she asked quietly, "Did you hit your head or something?"

"No, no. _My_ head's fine. I need you to do me a favour."

The bottles were placed on the ground before she stood up straight with her arms folded. "What do you want me to do?"

----

He explained his plan. To every minor detail. Details Kate would rather not of heard. There was no way she was going to kill that boar - even lesser so cut it's head of and stick it on a plate just to amuse Sawyer.

"Talk to Locke," She suggested "There's no way I'm going to do that. There's nothing you could do which would make me change my mind."

A frown came onto his face. "Are you sure about that, Freckles? That thing attacked me. _Twice_. And you're just gonna let it go?"

"If you had shot it the first time round we wouldn't have been in this mess." She said in her defense, taking a seat next to the makeshift bed.

Sawyer shrugged, "Maybe it ain't even the same boar. Hell, I bet they all hate me. It is my cologne, ain't it?"

She laughed whilst shaking her head, "No, Sawyer. I doubt that very much. Look, I'd help you if I could, but I just... can't."

"You'd kill a person but you won't even kill a damn boar? Jesus."

Kate pretended to ignore that comment. "I'm sorry."

"Are you sure there ain't anything I can persuade you with?"

"No, there's nothing."

That was her final answer. It had to be.


	4. Selfless

She tried to block out the sound of his voice as he called out "I love you, Kate!"

Son of a bitch. Why did he have to be so persuasive?

"I hate you, Sawyer!"

---

Kate hated being in the jungle alone. It was too quiet when she stood still and too noisy when she made movements. This was a really, really, _really _bad idea. It wasn't even as though _the _boar would be easy to tell apart from _a _boar.

_"It's big and it's brown," _Was Sawyer's earlier description. _"Oh, and it doesn't like cologne. Maybe you should spray some on your-" _No. Like that would make things any easier.

The sun would be setting soon. They should have just waited until tomorrow - the hunt is going to be even more pointless if it takes place in the dark. 

_I'm only staying out here for an hour. _She thought to herself whilst heading deeper into the mass of trees. _Don't get lost, don't get lost._

---

He was trying to sleep but it was proving impossible. Was he worried about Kate? Probably. He shouldn't have sent her out there alone. But then, she wasn't alone. Sawyer had given her the gun; hopefully it would be enough to protect her.

As the gun flashed into his mind, a question came with it. How many bullets were there? What if she shot the boar then there weren't any left for her protection?

_Shit._

---

She should have invited Locke. Together they probably would have tracked down half of the island's population of boar by now - possibly even be at the beach roasting them upon an open fire. A picture of Sawyer toasting marshmallows came into her mind and caused her to stumble slightly with a burst of laughter._  
_  
Looking down, a wallow came into view.

As she bent down, a few grunts could be heard. _Oh, God..._ This was her cue to pull out the weapon and blast the animal into smithereens. Hopefully that wouldn't happen. Clothes were limited as it is, having to discard of an outfit due to it being covered in blood and guts wasn't something she wanted to do. Also, the plan was to bring it back for food.

That was something else they hadn't considered. How the hell was Kate going to drag something that big back through the jungle?

_Think of that after you've killed it. Just shoot it in the head._

Slowly, she lifted up from her crouching position and pulled out the gun.


	5. The end

As Kate raised the barrel to be parallel with the animal's head, more grunting could be heard and seconds later, two small baby boars appeared from behind the larger one.

"Oh, no." Kate whined quietly, dropping the gun back down to her side. There was absolutely no way she was killing a mother. It was hope that good things do happen on this island, despite their inclination to attack Sawyer. As she thought about it more, she considered the idea that _he _might actually have been the one causing the problem. Sawyer probably frightened the babies or stepped inside their wallow.

"Hey." She smiled softly, crouching down to be on the same level as the three brown animals. They weren't exactly the cutest things in the world, but it didn't matter. Kate didn't exactly expect to become Ms. Doolittle, but they scampered away as soon as she moved. She smiled again and stood back up, tucking the gun into her waistband.

When she returned to the beach, Sawyer was far from impressed.

"Kate!" He exclaimed. "Aside from wanting my safety, I'm also damn hungry."

"I'll catch you some fish." She shrugged happily, skipping along to the waters edge. "C'mon, Sawyer. Have some compassion."

"Compassion, my ass." He grumbled, gingerly pulling himself to his good food and hopping over to join Kate. "You shouldn't have thought about it so much, Freckles. It was just a boar and we could've had three of 'em for dinner."

"Let's just drop it, yeah? We have plenty to eat and if you don't go into the jungle then there's no problem."

"There is a problem!" He yelped, stumbling forwards and wrapping his arms around Kate's shoulders in order to stay upright. "That brown-haired beast attacked me in my tent too."

"I'll protect you, you big baby." Kate laughed, slowly turning around so that his arms were still resting around her shoulders, but their faces were together.

"If it happens again, you'll be the one to blame." Sawyer smirked, bringing a hand around to brush back some of her curls that had fell forwards. "Thanks for trying, Freckles."

"You're welcome, Sawyer." She sighed softly. "How's your foot feeling?"

"I'm trying to forget about it." He glanced down for a moment but shot his gaze straight back to Kate. "My lips could do with some lovin', if you're up for it?"

"Yeah." She smiled, leaning forward and brushing a soft kiss across his still partially open lips.

"Tease." He chuckled, "Could've told me you were going to do that. A man needs to prepare."

Again, without warning, Kate's lips met his, but for a longer period of time. "Next time you can give me no warning."


End file.
